Woven fabric



F. H. STEWART.

WOVEN FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2I, 1920.

1,368,215. Patented Feb. 8,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

FRANK H. STEWART, 0F ELKINS PARK, PENNSYLVANIA.

WOVEN FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fatented Feb. 8, 1921.

Application filed August 21, 1920. Serial No. 405,121.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK H. STEWART, a citizen of the United States,residing in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in Woven Fabrics, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to woven fabrics and has as its object theproduction of a fabric which will possess all the advantages of a wovenfabric cut on the bias but will not be possessed of any of thedisadvantages thereof. This object I accomplish by weaving a fabric inwhich the wefts are transverse of the length of the fabric and the warpsare reversely diagonal. That is to say, each warp, in addition totraversing the fabric from end to end, traverses it progressively to andfro from side to side, so that at any given point in the length of thefabric, one half of the warps will be traversing not only forwardly buttoward one edge of the fabric while the other half of the warps will betraversing not only forwardly but toward the other edge of the fabric.Such a fabric 4 not only is susceptible of the diagonal distortion whichis the outstanding feature of a piece of fabric cut on the bias, butbeing properly selvaged in the weaving, will not pull or fray at theedges.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a face view, on an exaggeratedscale and of a diagrammatic nature, of a piece of fabric woven inaccordance with my invention, and

Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, are diagrammatic face views illustrating asuccession of heddle adjustment during the weaving of the fabricillustrated in Fig. 1.

The fabric illustrated comprises eighteen warp threads which arenumbered, respec tively, 1 to 18. With these warps are interwoven weftswhich are preferably, though not necessarily, formed from a continuousweft forming thread 19 which passes, in a to-and-fro run through each ofthe successive sheds of the warps. In the fabric illus trated, the ninewarp threads traversing from left to right each crdss, transversely, oneof the nine warp threads traversing from right to left, between eachpair of to-and-fro runs of the weft forming thread 19, and between theto-and-fro runs of each pair of the same the warp threads are sheddedwithout change in their previous lateral relation.

The weft forming thread 19 will, as it passes from one to-and-fro run tothe next,

form a selvage, as illustrated at the right hand edge of the upperhalfof the fabric shown in Fig. 1, but, if desired, this edge may bestrengthened and rendered neater by the provision of a longitudinalselvage warp thread 20, as illustrated at the right hand edge of thelower half of the fabric shown in said figure. The provision or omissionof this selvage warp thread 20 is entirely optional and in no wayaffects the essential feature of my invention.

The outer ends of each to-and-fro run of the weft forming thread 19 areunited by a loop 21 and these loops may, if desired, be engaged by anysuitably arranged loop locking thread or threads, for the purpose ofpreventing them being drawn back into the body of the fabric. In thefabric illustrated the loops are shown as engaged and retained by a pairof longitudinally disposed twisted loop locking threads 22 arranged asshown and described in my United States Letters Patent No. 1,324,627,dated December 9, 1919. This arrangement, however, is also optional.

In Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive, are shown four of the successive heddleadjustments during the weaving of the fabric shown in Fig. 1. Each ofthe warp threads 1 to 18 is controlled by one of corresponding heddles 1to 18, and these heddles are slidably mounted upon upper and lowercontrolling bars 23 and 24. When in a certain position, as shown inFigs. 2 and 4, the ends of these controlling bars are alined with theends of a pair of semi-circular guide bars 25 and 26 upon which theheddles may also slide.

In operation, the bars 23 and 24 will be moved away from one another, asshown in Fig. 2, whereupon a shed will be formed by the warp threads,the warp threads 1 to 9 controlled, respectively, by the heddles 1 to 9forming the lower member of the shed and the warp threads 10 to 18controlled, respectively, by the heddles 10 to 18 forming the uppermember of the shed. A to-and-fro run or weft forming thread is insertedin this shed after which the next shed is formed by moving the bars 23and 24 toward one another to the position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon thewarp threads 1 to 8 will be carried by the heddles 1 to 8 to form theupper member of the shed and the warp threads 10 to 18 will be carriedby the heddles 10 to 18 to form the lower member of the shed. A

to-and-fro run of weft forming thread is inserted in this shed, and thenext shed is then formed by moving the bars 23 and 24 away from oneanother and positioning the heddles thereupon as shown in Fig. 4. Toaccomplish this each of the heddles 2 to 9 is moved on the bar 24 onestep to the right while the heddle l is moved from the'bar 24 over thesemi-circular guide bar 25 to the right hand end of the bar 23, and, atthe same time, each of the heddles 11 to 18' is moved on the bar 23 onestep to the left while the heddle 10 is moved from the bar 23 over thesemi-circular guide bar 24 to the left hand end of the bar 24. With theheddles in this position a to-and-fro run of weft forming thread isinserted in the shed and the next shed is formed by moving the bars 23and 24 toward one another to the position shown in Fig. 5. A to-and-frorun of weft forming thread is inserted in this shed and the next shed isformed by another repositioning of heddles similar to that alreadydescribed. In this repositioning the-heddle 2 is moved up from the bar24 to the bar .23 and the heddle 11 is moved down from the v bar 23 tothe bar 24 and the remaining hedsuccession of to-and-fro runs of acontinuous thread my invention is not limited in this manner, and eventhough the to-and-fro run is adhered to, a plurality of weft-formingthreads may be employed, their runs being inserted, in serial order,from either or both edges of the fabric. Such modifications, beingobvious, require no special illustration.

The primary feature of my invention resides in the reversely diagonallydisposed warp threads with transverse 'wefts interwoven therewith, theother attendant and cooperating features shown and described beingsubordinate.

I claim:

1. A Woven fabric comprising reversely diagonal warp threads and acontinuous weft forming thread passing to and fro in suc-.

cessive-sheds of the warp-threads to form wefts.

2. A woven fabric comprising a set ofreversely diagonal warp threads, alongitudinal selvage warp thread flanking the same,

and a continuous weft forming thread passing to-and-fro insuccessivesheds of the diagonal Warp threads to form wefts and beinglooped about said selvage warp'thread between adjacent to-and-fro runs.

:3. A woven fabric comprising a set of reversely diagonal Warp threads,a continuous weft forming thread passing to andfro in successive shedsof the warp threads to form Wefts and having loops at the ends of theto-and-fro runs, and longitudinally disposed loop locking threadsflanking said set of warp threads and engaging and retaining said loops.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' FRANK H. STEWART.

